Garment hangers



Aug. 29, 1961 LUTZ 2,998,173

' v GARMENT HANGERS Filed Dec. 14, 1959 r United States Patent Filed Dec. 14, 1959, Ser. No. 859,182 4 Claims. 01. 223-91 This invention relates to garment hangers and more particularly to a type of hangar adapted to receive and hold a number of garments such as a coat and/or trousers.

In known hangers of this general character a cross rod is usually provided and which consists of a round rod extending between the ends of the top member or arched coat support. Trousers are usually draped over the cross rod and the same exhibit a tendency to slide ofi the cross rod and fall to the floor. Various efforts have been made to restrain the trousers from sliding and descending movements and to prevent their resultant displacement from the cross rod. Such efforts have usually consisted in the production of devices which were either difiicult to operate with one hand while placing the trousers in position on the cross rod or else involved the use of parts or elements which were difiicult to assemble or so greatly increased the cost of manufacture of the garment hanger as to make its production impossible.

Thus, the optimum sought in an article of this character is a means whereby the trousers or other garment to be suspended from a cross bar of the hanger can be readily slipped into position on the cross bar by one hand, and which when placed thereon will be clampingly held against the cross bar, thus not only preventing slippage of the garment therefrom, but preventing the garment from sliding longitudinally of the cross bar and becoming bunched or creased thereon.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a garment hanger which will fully meet the above requirements, and which in addition can be manufactured economically and sold at a price well within the means of the most economically-minded.

It is an object of the invention to provide a garment hanger which will not only meet the above requirements, but one which does not utilize coil springs, loose or pivotal elements, and which will capably withstand the hard use and often abuse to which garment hangers are subjected.

With these and other objects to be hereinafter set forth in view, I have devised the arrangement of parts to be described and more particularly pointed out in the claims appended hereto.

In the accompanying drawing, wherein an illustrative embodiment of the invention is disclosed,

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of a garment hanger constructed according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view, taken substantially on the line 22 of FIG. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows and showing a portion of a pair of trousers in position;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of an end portion of the hanger, showing a slightly modified arrangement for anchoring one end of the spring member in place;

FIG. 4 is a view showing how the hanger is initially fitted on a pair of trousers;

FIG. 5 is a somewhat similar view, showing how the hanger is slid down the trouser legs preparatory to permitting the trousers to drape from the cross bar, and

FIG. 6 is a view showing how the trousers may be withdrawn from the hanger.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in FIGS. 1 to 6 inclusive, the body 1 of the hanger is preferably, although not necessarily, composed of molded plastic material. It includes the main bar or coat support 2 of arched formation and thus composed of the divergent arms 3 and 4 extending from the centrally located suspension hook 5. The cross bar 6 intended for the suspension of a pair of trousers, a skirt or other garment, may be an integral extension firom the end of the arm 3 of the coat support or it may be otherwise fixedly attached thereto. The cross bar 6 has a tree end 7 positioned below and away from the free end 9 of the arm 4 of the coat support. Said free end is provided with an inclined surface 7a. There is thus provided between the end 7 of the cross bar 6 and the end 9 of the arm 4 a spacing 8 constituting an entrance passage through which a garment, such as the trousers 10, may be passed to thereby place such garment in draped position over the cross bar and permit it to be suspended therefrom.

A means is provided for retaining the trousers or other garment in place on the hanger and the same consists of an elongated clamping element in the form of a resilient strip of flat spring 11 which can be composed of metal or made of flexible plastic material. Said spring is normally maintained in flatwise resilient contact with the upper sur face of the cross bar 6 so that upon a garment, such as the trousers 10, is placed over the cross bar and between the top surface of the same and the lower face of the spring, the garment will be clampingly held against the cross bar by the resilient pressure of the spring and thus will not only be held against sliding movement in a direction transversely of the cross bar, but will also be held against sliding movement along the length of the cross bar. The spring 11 can also be arranged with its central portion slightly spaced from the top of the cross bar but sufficiently close thereto to enable that portion of the spring to exert a light clamping effect on the trousers and hold them from the slippage above mentioned. The

spring 11 is of such length that its greater portion lies substantially parallel to the cross bar 6 to thereby provide a lengthy area of contact with the trousers on the bar.

At its opposite ends, the spring 11 is upturned, as shown at 12, and in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, these ends have reduced-width terminal portions 13 which are respectively anchored in recesses provided near the ends of the arms 3 and '4 of the supporting member. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4 the ends of the spring 11 are fitted into notches 14 formed in the arms 3 and 4 of the coat support. The opposite ends 12 of the spring may be rather sharply upturned and this, coupled with the over-all shape of the spring 11 always maintains the spring in a downwardly-bowed condition with accidental or otherwise formation of the spring in a reversely-bowed position made impossible.

The manner in which the hanger is used will now be readily apparent. To place a garment on the hanger, or more correctly to place the hanger on the garment, the garment, such as the trousers 10, is gripped at the cuffs by one hand and the legs of the trousers guided into the passage 8. The hanger is then moved transversely of the legs of the trousers, as indicated by the arrow in FIG. 4, thus positioning the legs of the trousers between the spring 11 and the upper surface of the cross bar 6. The upturned end 12. of the spring 11 located at the passage 8 constitutes a guide element serving to direct the trouser legs under the spring so that the act of sliding the hanger in place on the trousers is greatly facilitated. The guiding of the trousers in place is facilitated by the co-operation of the inclined surface 7a on the end of the cross bar with the upturned end 12 of the spring.

When the trousers is positioned in place as above described, the hanger may then be slid down along the legs of the garment in the direction indicated by the arrow in FIG. 5, to a substantially central point along the length of the trouser legs, the trousers being then permitted to hang down from the cross bar 6 in the conventional manner as shown in FIG. 2.

When the garment is; located in position as above described, the spring 11 will exert resilient pressure on those parts of the garment which are located between the spring and the top of the cross bar, thereby holding the garment against shifting movement both longitudinally and transversely of the cross bar and particularly during tilting movement of the hanger such as occurs when placing the hanger on a bar in a closet or removing it therefrom.

The removal of the garment from the hanger merely involves sliding it outwardly through the passage 8 in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. 6, for the pressure of the spring 1.1, while being sufiicient to prevent shifting movement of the garment during normal use of the hanger, readily permits of the manual withdrawal of the garment from the hanger.

The use of an elongated springy element, such as the leaf spring 11, and its means of attachment tothe hanger, does not add very materially to the production cost of the hanger, yet the described construction enables the hanger to be most effectively used for the purposes herein described.

Having described a single embodiment of the invention, it is obvious that the same is not to be restricted thereto, but is broad enough to cover all structures coming the scope of the annexed claims.

What I claim is:

1. A garment hanger having a coat support provided with a pair of divergent arms, a cross bar attached to one of said arms and having an end free of connection to the other arm and spaced from the latter arm to thereby provide for an entrance opening between the latter arm and the cross bar, and a leaf spring extending between the arms and connected at its ends to said arms and of a shape to cause it to be always maintained in a downwardly bowed condition, the leaf spring having a portion between its ends disposed against the upper surface of the cross bar, a garment being capable of being placed over the cross bar under said portion of the spring while the spring remains in its downwardly-bowed condition.

2. A garment hanger having a coat support, one end of said support being attached to one end of a cross bar, the cross bar having a free end located near but spaced from the opposite end of the coat support, and a flat spring having its ends respectively connected to the opposite ends of the coat support, said spring having a consistently dolwnwardly-lbowed portion adapted to clampingly maintain a garment between it and the cross bar, the garment being capable of placement between the spring and the cross bar while the spring remains in its downwardlybowed condition.

3. A garment hanger having a coat support provided with a pair of divergent arms, a cross bar integrally attached at one end to the end portion of one of said arms, said cross bar having its second end spaced from the end of the second arm and provided with an inclined end surface to thereby provide for an entrance passage between the coat support and the cross bar, a leaf spring extending between the arms and connected at its ends to the arms, a portion of the spring between its ends acting to clampingly hold trousers between it and the cross bar, the ends of the spring being upturned, one of said ends extending across the entrance passage and co-operating with the inclined end surface on the cross bar and acting as a guiding element to direct the trousers between the spring and cross bar, the trousers being capable of placement between the cross bar and the spring while the portion of the spring between its ends is disposed adjacent to the cross bar.

4. A garment hanger having a coat support provided with a pair of divergent arms, a cross bar attached at one end to one of said arms, said cross bar having a second end spaced from the end of the second arm and provided with an inclined surface, the space between the end of the second arm and the inclined surface on the cross bar providing an entrance opening between the coat support and the cross bar, a leaf spring extending between the arms and connected at its ends to the arms, said ends of the spring being upturned to engage with the arms, the spring having a portion between its upturned ends disposed adjacent to the cross bar and acting to clampingly hold trousers between said portion and the cross bar, the spring maintaining a constant downwardlybowed position and directed toward the cross bar, the trousers being capable of being placed between the spring and cross bar while the portion of the spring between its ends is disposed adjacent to the cross bar, one of the ends of the spring co-operating with the inclined end on the cross bar to form guide means between which the trousers are inserted to guide them between the spring and cross bar while the spring remains in its downwardly-bowed condition.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,206,348 MacPherson Nov. 28, 1916 1,980,939 Goerner Nov. 13, 1934 2,547,561 Brooke Apr. 13, 1951 2,886,224 Bourne May 12, 1959 

